GavReads

"Can I just say that all fiction is speculative; it’s just more obvious with dragons or..."

Sat, 04 May 2013 09:28:39 +0100

“Can I just say that all fiction is speculative; it’s just more obvious with dragons or spaceships that the author is making stuff up.”

- Me

"The race to ‘have read’ is a pitiless and destructive thing. Re-reading is not only a profound..."

Fri, 03 May 2013 20:18:00 +0100

“The race to ‘have read’ is a pitiless and destructive thing. Re-reading is not only a profound pleasure, it is good and valuable too.”

- https://twitter.com/Gollancz/status/330376124175638528

Op-Ed: 20 Things to Keep in Mind when Critiquing Awards

Fri, 03 May 2013 20:13:25 +0100

Op-Ed: 20 Things to Keep in Mind when Critiquing Awards

neil-gaiman: This was posted on Twitter… It’s from the UK...

Sun, 28 Apr 2013 20:42:14 +0100

neil-gaiman:

This was posted on Twitter… It’s from the UK Sunday Times (can’t see a link to it).

(Also, I went and checked the email exchange, and I spelled irrelevant correctly. Which puzzles me, about the Sunday Times and the concept of spell checking.)

"Times on Sunday: Why do you think contemporary American fiction seems to blow us out of the..."

Sun, 28 Apr 2013 20:40:37 +0100

“Times on Sunday: Why do you think contemporary American fiction seems to blow us out of the water?
Neil Gaiman: Does it? They don’t have a Pratchett or a Banks”

- https://twitter.com/Ruther2/status/328450574032961537

malindalo: Finalists for the 2013 Lambda Literary Awards in...

Mon, 11 Mar 2013 21:19:46 +0000

malindalo:

Finalists for the 2013 Lambda Literary Awards in LGBT Children’s/Young Adult Books:

1. Adaptation, Malinda Lo, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

2. The Adventure of Tulip, Birthday Wish Fairy, S. Bear Bergman and Suzy Malik, Flamingo
Rampant

3. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, Benjamin Alire Saenz, Simon & Schuster/Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

4. Ask the Passengers, A.S. King, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

5. Beautiful Music for Ugly Children, Kirstin Cronn-Mills, Flux Books

6. Every Day, David Levithan, Knopf Books for Young Readers

7. Kiss the Morning Star, Elissa Janine Hoole, Amazon Children’s Publishing

8. The Miseducation of Cameron Post, emily M. danforth, Balzer + Bray

9. Personal Effects, E.M. Kokie, Candlewick Press

10. Silhouette of a Sparrow, Molly Beth Griffin, Milkweed Editions

"‘Literary’ and ‘SFF’ aren’t mutually exclusive terms, no two genres..."

Mon, 04 Mar 2013 21:34:31 +0000

“‘Literary’ and ‘SFF’ aren’t mutually exclusive terms, no two genres are. A lot of the problem goes away when you realise that.”

- @TomHPollock

"… the discussion invariably bends towards the detail of rape/murder/torture, rather than querying..."

Sun, 03 Mar 2013 11:17:00 +0000

“… the discussion invariably bends towards the *detail* of rape/murder/torture, rather than querying the need for its presence at all…”

- @pornokitsch

"Speculative fiction is, happily, not the mainstream’s negative energy twin. Good SF and Fantasy,..."

Fri, 01 Mar 2013 14:23:39 +0000

“Speculative fiction is, happily, not the mainstream’s negative energy twin. Good SF and Fantasy, good Weird, good whatever you want to call it, is perfectly happy playing with human scale objects and emotions alongside technologies, magics and sciences which remake the outer world and in consequence alter or highlight the inner one. It just isn’t a conflict. You can’t genuinely depict “the ordinary mind on an ordinary day” in the developed world if you refuse to acknowledge the existence of the social web, CCTV cameras and online shopping. Human-ness doesn’t happen in the dark interior of the skull; it’s not Plato’s cave. It happens at the border of self and exterior, and that means it is affected by every outer trend. A human being without external stimuli does not develop a self in the same way as the rest of us. Our humanity is contingent on the world we encounter, which means that as we change the world so, to, we are changed. Small potatoes in speculative fiction, a huge matter for the mainstream.”

- http://www.nickharkaway.com/2013/02/progressive-fiction-and-the-kitschies/

"The imbalance between SF’s regard for innovation in science and its disregard for innovation in..."

Sun, 17 Feb 2013 15:38:00 +0000

“The imbalance between SF’s regard for innovation in science and its disregard for innovation in writing is sometimes hard to support.”

- @Gollancz

"Fiction not about facts. Filtered or otherwise."

Sun, 17 Feb 2013 15:37:00 +0000

“Fiction not about facts. Filtered or otherwise.”

- @Gollancz

"The author tells me that he will be happy for her to continue writing the Discworld books when he is..."

Wed, 14 Nov 2012 22:39:44 +0000

“The author tells me that he will be happy for her to continue writing the Discworld books when he is no longer able to do so. “The Discworld is safe in my daughter’s hands,” Pratchett assures me.”

- http://www.newstatesman.com/culture/2012/11/terry-pratchett-my-daughter-rhianna-will-take-over-discworld-when-im-gone

jenionic: i want to be a librarian so bad.

Sun, 03 Jun 2012 18:49:41 +0100

jenionic:

i want to be a librarian so bad.

"SF is best suited to using ideas to give space to examine emotion at a distance."

Wed, 23 May 2012 21:03:36 +0100

“SF is best suited to using ideas to give space to examine emotion at a distance.”

"What “gatekeepers” at least ensure is that the honestly terrible doesn’t get past the front door."

Wed, 23 May 2012 20:55:00 +0100

“What “gatekeepers” at least ensure is that the honestly terrible doesn’t get past the front door.”

"I am not a small press. I am an author with 18 titles for sale. That is more titles that some big..."

Sun, 20 May 2012 21:06:21 +0100

“I am not a small press. I am an author with 18 titles for sale. That is more titles that some big publishing houses. I have advertising currently running in Locus, Publishers Weekly, Fantasy and Sci Fi, and Revolver magazines. I have blog advertising across the entire blog-o-sphere. I am not a small press or even self published. [REDACTED]’ books are PUBLISHED by [REDACTED] and should be treated no differently that any big named publishers title.”

"see book with interesting premises. read first page; find writing mediocre beneath reading; give up...."

Sat, 19 May 2012 19:40:05 +0100

“see book with interesting premises. read first page; find writing mediocre beneath reading; give up. why can’t people rise above mediocre.”

- requireshate

WHAT MAKES YOU FEEL BETTER WHEN YOU ARE IN A BAD MOOD?

Sat, 19 May 2012 14:17:36 +0100

Reading or failing that listening to someone like Florence + The Machine.

"Part of the appeal of the fantastic is taking ridiculous ideas very seriously and pretending..."

Sat, 19 May 2012 12:19:04 +0100

““Part of the appeal of the fantastic is taking ridiculous ideas very seriously and pretending they’re not absurd.””

- - China Miéville

"My concern about the conduct of literary critics stems in part from an article that recently..."

Tue, 15 May 2012 20:13:28 +0100

“My concern about the conduct of literary critics stems in part from an article that recently appeared about my latest novel, Peaches for Monsieur le Curé, in which almost every plot twist was given away”

GavReads

"Can I just say that all fiction is speculative; it’s just more obvious with dragons or..."

"The race to ‘have read’ is a pitiless and destructive thing. Re-reading is not only a profound..."

Op-Ed: 20 Things to Keep in Mind when Critiquing Awards

neil-gaiman: This was posted on Twitter… It’s from the UK...

"Times on Sunday: Why do you think contemporary American fiction seems to blow us out of the..."

malindalo: Finalists for the 2013 Lambda Literary Awards in...

"‘Literary’ and ‘SFF’ aren’t mutually exclusive terms, no two genres..."

"… the discussion invariably bends towards the *detail* of rape/murder/torture, rather than querying..."

"Speculative fiction is, happily, not the mainstream’s negative energy twin. Good SF and Fantasy,..."

"The imbalance between SF’s regard for innovation in science and its disregard for innovation in..."

"Fiction not about facts. Filtered or otherwise."

"The author tells me that he will be happy for her to continue writing the Discworld books when he is..."

jenionic: i want to be a librarian so bad.

"SF is best suited to using ideas to give space to examine emotion at a distance."

"What “gatekeepers” at least ensure is that the honestly terrible doesn’t get past the front door."

"I am not a small press. I am an author with 18 titles for sale. That is more titles that some big..."

"see book with interesting premises. read first page; find writing mediocre beneath reading; give up...."

WHAT MAKES YOU FEEL BETTER WHEN YOU ARE IN A BAD MOOD?

"Part of the appeal of the fantastic is taking ridiculous ideas very seriously and pretending..."

"My concern about the conduct of literary critics stems in part from an article that recently..."

"… the discussion invariably bends towards the detail of rape/murder/torture, rather than querying..."